The 25 days or so between Halloween and Thanksgiving always reminds me of that same time frame in 1996 when the Pontiac Street Performance website was first created and published on the Internet. That was the fledgling time of the Internet and website creating was in it's infancy.

My wife was into the website creation thing and bought books on HTML coding. She taught herself enough to create a website that soon became a big deal for the rock band GOO GOO DOLLS. Her site had a lot to do with creating a large fan base for the band. My wife spent many hours each day adding information about the band but most importantly she was studying web creation and coding. She was so successful with it that it leaked over onto me and she coaxed me to create my own website. With her encouragement, and the fact that I was rebuilding my engine, gave me the subject, a passionate one, to post about. She taught and helped me with coding.

So sometime during that period in 1996, as I recall, PONTIAC STREET PERFORMANCE was created. Now, 19 years later it's still on the Internet. It has seen the growth of the Pontiac hobby as well as the decline of it following the killing off of PMD, the loss of Pontiac Enthusiast magazine and the longer running High Performance Pontiac magazine, initially started as TA magazine.

This time next year, 2016 will mark the 20th Anniversary of PSP. That's the website, not the forum. The forum came about later because of the feuding going on at the Performance Years forum, where I was a regular participant, and for a short time, a moderator. Creating the PSP forum, I believe, helped to sustain the website for 15 years. It continues to bring issues and answers together for many Pontiac enthusiasts struggling to keep their cars on the road and a part of hobby interest.

So, for 19 years the PSP website has been a major aspect of my interest in cars and more specifically PONTIAC cars.

While my interest in cars remained very high despite changes in the car world, my interest in trying to keep up with all the numerous iterations of website building tools waned, as too many constant changes were beating up on my time, my enthusiasm and wallet. Even my wife lost interest as too many changes required too much re-learning and with other commitments, was too much for her to bear.

In 2002, after many sleepless nights she discontinued the FABFAY and the GOO GOO DOOLS website. Fans were taken back, shocked and deeply saddened, fans wrote emails and letters urging her to continue with the site. However, her decision was made--it was done. As a result, the band's popularity fell off as the daily information that was fueling the fans enthusiasm evaporated.

So, what about the future of the PSP website? For the record--The PSP website (including the Forum) will continue for at least another year. After that I will reassess all factors on whether it will continue for another 5 years. (I think in increments of 5.)

Bill, it's very cool to read how this began. It's real people exploring...finding joy, applying effort, and realizing reward. And then using that as your battery to find the joy for the experience of sharing. Doesn't mean it lasts forever or even it should. But to know a little bit more about the humanness and its creation to me at least, seems to affect the magic and passion for these pontiacs in way that points us twards the more rewarding part of the wave. What you've done here is remarkable. By the nature of your quest to bring this site to life you have effectively managed to insulate us from the effort, discipline, grief, and management which you've had to perform throughout the years. What we are so lucky to have...is a distilled platform for pontiac enthusiasts to share, learn, and identify with a rare breed of car lovers which seem to have a bloodlike brotherhood even in debate. Mostly anyway. Thanks Bill....and I'll never hear a goo dolls song without thinking pontiacs....I will confess, at first I thought you were going to mention that the members of the goo goo dolls were huge pontiac enthusiasts....jeez probably not the case.

I would not have anywhere near the knowledge and understanding I have of Pontiacs without this site. Nowhere online has more Pontiac performance topics with knowledgeable people to reply. The info and direction given is priceless. It has inspired me to successfully re-build a couple Pontiac engines and try different combinations, based on someone else's experience. Being an industrial electrician I understand the changing dynamics of technology and have actually built a webpage myself many years ago, it was very time consuming learning and developing. Something,I decided, better left to someone that is dedicated to building them. Anyways, I just want to thank you and your wife for your contribution to the Pontiac community.